Kristen Meinzer

For the Democrats, the conventions have an incredible history of foretelling the party’s direction and creating the biggest stars. Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affa...

Sometimes Rafer and Kristen hate movies. Sometimes they love movies. And sometimes they love movies in a way that other people hate them. This is one of those weeks. On the roster: 'Oogieloves,' 'The Possession,' and 'Lawless.'

It’s Friday when we talk about movies, and we’ve got three big openings this week, with a little bit of something for everyone. Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy team up as bootlegging broth...

By popular demand, Rafer and Kristen talk about their favorite documentaries of the summer. From a look at someone who's stolen 500 identities to a pair of elderly identical twin prostitutes getting by to a couple that's managed to live way beyond their means, the films are stranger than fiction in some cases...and hit awfully close to home in others. 

This week, Rafer finds a certain movie too stupid to enjoy, and Kristen considers the same movie not quite stupid enough. Also, is the world ready for a children's horror movie? And the Movie Date team gives their verdict on Whitney Houston's final swan song: "Sparkle." 

It's a big week of openings, so Kristen Meinzer and Rafer Guzman get down to business to discuss "The Expendables 2," "ParaNorman," "The Odd Life of Timothy Green," and "Sparkle."

In this week's Movie Date, Rafer explains why "The Bourne Legacy" has no right to use the words "Bourne" or "Legacy" in its title. Kristen does a truly horrendous imitation of Alfred Hitchcock. And Rafer and Kristen try their best to dance around the "things" that Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones do together (and by themselves) in the new romantic comedy "Hope Springs." 

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been talking about the Olympics, but before there was Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte, there was Lynne Cox. And while she’s no Olympic gold medalist, she ...

It’s Friday, when we talk about movies on the Takeaway, and we have three big ones this week: one with box-office pedigree, one that stars Hollywood’s most Oscar-nominated actress, an...

When Wade Michael Page allegedly attacked the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin this past weekend, many were shocked by his identification as a neo-Nazi. Wade, however, is not the first neo-Na...

Many of the air attacks conducted by the United States since the commencement of air warfare have gone under the radar. That was, until 45-year-old Minnesota native and former Lieuten...

While most of us are accustomed to seeing women play soccer and none of us bat an eye at women running, men are still prohibited from competing in some sports — specifically synchroni...

While our counterparts have national vacation policies guaranteeing thirty or more vacation days a year, the United States doesn’t even have a national vacation policy.

If you’ve ever survived a shocking, irrational tragedy, like September 11 or the Aurora movie theatre shooting, or this weekend’s attack on the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, there’s no of...

This summer, The Takeaway has been hitting the road, and hearing the hits, on our virtual music road trip. Today our stop is the great music town of Oklahoma City, and our tour guide ...

Every ten years, the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound magazine polls nearly one thousand international film critics to find out what they consider the greatest movie of all ti...

Throughout the summer, The Takeaway has covered parenting and the notion of “having it all” from a number of approaches — from women, from men, and from those who think having it all ...

Can you define the word “fletching”? Do you know what the branches are called in the ancient Olympians’ crowns? And for that matter, did you even know what dressage was before Anne Ro...

Is "Vertigo" the greatest movie ever made? Is it better than "Citizen Kane"? Can you recall what's great about "Total Recall"? And why are Rafer and Kristen arguing about "Diary of a Whimpy Kid"?

It looks like the United States has its first gymnastics dream team since the “Magnificent Seven” in 1996. Dominique Moceano, the youngest member of the “Magnificent Seven” shares her...